BJP fields Chetan Chauhan’s widow in UP bypolls

LUCKNOW: Seeking to cash in on the sympathy factor, the BJP gave tickets to Sangeeta Chauhan and Usha Sirohi, the wives of deceased party MLAs – Chetan Chauhan and Virendra Singh Sirohi – for bypoll-bound Naugaon Sadat (Amroha) and Bulandshahr assembly seats – respectively, on Tuesday. The party announced the names of candidates for six assembly seats where byelections are due in November, withholding the name of its candidate for Deoria which fell vacant following death of its MLA Janmejay Singh.
Chauhan, the cricketer-turned-politician passed away in August after contracting Corona infection, while Sirohi, a senior party leader and chief whip in the UP assembly died in March while fighting serious liver ailments. Both Chauhan and Sirohi were popular leaders in their respective constituencies.
BJP’s decision to play on the sympathy factor in the two West UP seats comes even as the party battles an assertive opposition which seeks to corner the saffron party over alleged gang rape and death of a Dalit girl in Hathras. BJP sources said that the decision to field wives of Chauhan and Sirohi was taken by the UP BJP after due approval from the Central leadership. The UP BJP unit led by state party chief Swatantra Dev Singh and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had convened the state election committee meeting on Friday last week before sending the names to the party’s central leadership.
The party also decided to field former BJP’s Unnao district president, Srikant Katiyar from Bangarmau assembly seat which fell vacant following disqualification of BJP MLA and an influential Thakur leader Kuldeep Singh Senger in connection with rape of a minor. BJP’s decision to field Katiyar, a Kurmi, is seen as a party attempt to offset opposition aggressive stance of tagging BJP as a party of upper caste, essentially Thakur. Sources said that the party was initially planning to field Sangeeta Senger, wife of Kuldeep Senger but the party’s Central leadership decided against it. “The party did not wish to field a Thakur as it would have pitted the community against Brahmins. It was eventually decided to go in for a backward,” a senior BJP leader told TOI.
The party, likewise, banked on local party functionaries in other bypoll-bound assembly seats. In Tundla reserved seat, which fell vacant following election of former MLA SP Singh Baghel to Lok Sabha, the party decided to field Prempal Dhangar, a local party functionary from shepherd community. He would be up against Maharaj Singh Dhangar who has been fielded by the Samajwadi Party.
Similarly the party has fielded Upendra Paswan, party’s regional president (SC Morcha) from Ghatampur, the seat which fell vacant following death of party MLA and cabinet minister Kamala Rani Varun following Corona infection in August. The BJP announced the candidature of Manoj Singh, a Thakur, from Malhani (Jaunpur assembly seat which has a considerable influence of mafia-turned-politician Dhananjay Singh. Manoj happens to be a former vice-president of Allahabad University Students’ Union.
State BJP chief to be in Naugaon Sadat: Hours after the BJP announced its candidates on six bypoll-bound assembly seats, state party chief Swatantra Dev Singh hit the ground running. Singh announced that he would camp in Naugaon Sadat assembly seat and preside over a booth-level meeting, followed by a gram chaupal meeting. The party said that Singh would give directions to the party functionaries on the seat which fell vacant following death of party MLA and former cricketer Chetan Chauhan.